The Beatles, The Smiths and Elliot Smith. “I’m always listening to new music and so are the rest of the guys but these musicians have been influencing us since we were preteens,” says Joshue Mendoza. Also, friends, experiences, ambitions, life and humans.

Sometimes a band just has to go separate ways. Whether there are a few musically artistic differences or certain individuals are tired of the grind of practice and performance. After a long friendship since middle school this happened to Teleplay in 2008, known as LIFE back then, but the choice obviously wasn’t permanent. The band members just needed a little creative refresher. After a few side projects and a transition from hard- and metalcore, Teleplay somehow arrived at an indie pop rock sound with renewed vigor.

When Teleplay regrouped it was time to start a new beginning with the band’s new identity. According to guitarist John Loera, one fateful Twilight Zone episode later, the name Teleplay revealed itself in the form of television credit status. It wasn’t just the changing of a name; it was an agreed alteration of the band’s goals and sound too. “The band made a big decision in changing their name to Teleplay in order to create a more serious effect to their style. The song ‘Barcelona’ caught the attention of a ton of people all over the IE and showed the song writing power that Teleplay offers,” explains Josue Mendoza, lead guitarist.

It’s a pretty big jump to switch from heavy music to indie-pop but as daunting as it may seem, Teleplay has a new vision when it comes to new songs. “Really our band is hard to describe,” says guitarist Josue Mendoza. We just play what comes out of us and fortunately people love it. We’ve been told that we need to do specific things to become a huge band but really we believe that the core of Teleplay should be in the songs. The world and Teleplay will know when we are ready to be at that next level of popularity which so many other bands are desperate to achieve.”

“Our shows are generally energetic and moody,” says bassist Daniel Garcia. “We like to keep the audience guessing what song or mood the next song will be. Our goal is always to entertain and have a great time.”

“We’ve never played at UCR so this is definitely big for us” says drummer Juan Carlos Virgen Jr. Among famous and budding groups alike, Teleplay will be joining UCR for a night of music that will echo across campus.

Teleplay at the UCR Belltower, University of California Riverside, 900 University Ave., Riverside, (951) 827-4331; ucriversidepresents.ucr.edu. Fri, July 20. 6:15pm.